THE Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, headed by chairman Jose Jorge Corpuz, disputed on Tuesday the charges of the Anti-Trapo Movement, led by chairman Leon Estrella Peralta, over the expansion of the agency’s small town lottery operations.
In a complaint it filed with the Ombudsman, ATM claimed the PCSO wanted to expand its STL operation nationwide to favor its existing 18 STL licensees.
Corpuz denied giving undue advantage to the existing 18 licensees, called authorized agent corporations, when applications for STL licenses were opened and stressed that even the areas of operation of the 18 licensees were opened for application.
The existing 18 licenses were also required to file applications and their failure to file will mean termination of their authority to operate. The requirement of the 18 AACs to file their new applications is clearly stated in PCSO’s notice to the public, published in PCSO’s website and in newspapers.
The new STL Implementing Rules and Regulations provides for a higher Presumptive Monthly Retail Receipt (PMRR), PCSO said.
Aside from setting a higher PMRR, the area of operation is open for bidding, meaning whoever can give the highest PMRR provided it also obtains the highest rate in all the criteria in the determination of the best and most responsible proposal, will be given the authority to operate.
Thus, if the new applicant is rated highest in all the criteria, it gets the authority to operate, ousting the existing STL AAC, PCSO clarified.
The revenue earned from STL under the new PMRR for the 18 AACs in October is P909,114,437. This is higher than P487,263,232 compared to the revenue earned in September which was only P421,851,205 under the old PMRR. The increase is 116 percent compared to the old PMRR.
With the commitment of the PNP and LGU officials to support PCSO in the implementation of the new IRR, STL will be left as the only legal numbers game in the country, PCSO said. To show that PNP is really committed to support PCSO, an agreement on STL operations was also signed.
One of the provisions of the new IRR is the prohibition on the part of the AACs to give in kind or in cash to any person, private or public. This provision is intended to curb corruption both in private and public sectors. Thus, the new IRR will also serve as a tool to educate our community on issues of graft and corruption.
The PCSO said it is premature to declare that the new STL IRR failed in its objective of fighting the illegal numbers game in the country considering that the new IRR is only in its initial stage of implementation.
“Let us give the new IRR ample time for its implementation before we pronounce whether it is a failure or not. Let us give the new IRR a chance to prove its objectives,” Corpuz said.